Top 5 Hottest Chillies in the World

“Variety’s the spice of life, That gives it all its flavor”, the poet William Cowper once said, obviously never having had his tongue completely burnt off by the relentless fire of a Ghost Pepper. Sure, a little spice here and there makes all the difference, but today we’re going to take it up a notch or two. Or 3 million. You might like some Jalepenos on your Hot and Spicy Pizza, but have you ever tried one of the hottest chillies in the world? Let’s investigate, Delivery Hero style…

Rocking the Scoville

At some point humans decided that we needed a more scientific scale for measuring spicy heat than “Yeah it’s kind of burning my tongue” and “Pass me the f******n milk!!!”. Thankfully, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville devised a method that managed to measure the level of capsaicin in parts per million, known as Scoville Heat Units. You can think of capsaicin as a unit of heat that produces a burning sensation in any tissue it comes into contact with. A mild Jalepeno has a Scoville rating of 1,000 – 1,500 units. Chipotle comes in at around 5,000 – 8,000, and the hottest Tabasco peppers rank at around 30,000 to 50,000. The Ghost Pepper has a Scoville Heat Unit rating of 800,000 to 1,000,000, and that’s not even the hottest. Oh yeah, capsaicin is also the active ingredient in pepper spray. *Here’s a helpful hint – don’t use it as a condiment on your Chicken Wings like this guy:

The World’s Hottest Chillies

So – here we go, a countdown of the world’s top 5 hottest chillies, along with video of some poor wretched soul awesome guy trying each one:) Please keep in mind: DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME unless you are going to film it and put it on Youtube for our amusement.

Although it has since been surpassed by other chillies, the Ghost Pepper is perhaps the most well-known chilli in the world after Tabasco and Jalepenos. This thing is not playing around, and watching ‘Chuck from the Bronx’ ingest raw flames adds to the fun.

Choice Video Quote: “It’s like Purgatory in my mouth”

Number Three Hottest Chilli – Infinity – SHU: 800,000 – 1,067,000

The Infinity pepper has been made into a whole range of sauces that are sure to make dinner really fun, but for the real deal you’ve got to watch this guy give it the full analysis.

Choice Video Quote “It feels like I swallowed molten lead”

Number Two Hottest Chilli – Naga Viper – SHU: 800,000 – 1,382,000

The Naga Viper is the Grim Reaper in chilli form. The previous chillies were child’s play compared to them. As proof, here we have a professional chilli taster basically explode on camera, with tragic hilarious results.

Choice Video Quote “Oh! It’s in my eyes“

Number One Hottest Chilli in the World – Trinidad Scorpion – SHU: 900,000 – 1,463,000

Congratulations to New South Wale’s own ‘The Chilli Factory’ for creating the hottest chilli in the world – the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T! This chilli is apparently so hot that the creators wear protective gear to handle it, but of course that doesn’t mean that someone didn’t have a go at handling it with his mouth. Enter “Ted, the Fire-Breathing Idiot”…

Choice Video Quote “I can’t swallow the saliva, it burns so bad!”

So there you go guys, next time it seems as though your Thai Red Chicken Curry is a little spicy, think of Chuck from the Bronx eating a Ghost Pepper:)

###BONUS ROUND###

For those of you in Sydney that are keen to test out how you would manage against some very hot chilli, we’ve got a list of 3 Thai restaurants that serve up some very spicy meals!

Taste of Thai prepare an almighty Pad Krapaogai Yang (Stir Fried Hot Chilli with BBQ Chicken finely chopped Green Bean and Thai Basil) that will set your hairs on edge and heat up your mouth like Chuck from the Bronx!

About the Author

Jacob E. Dawson Jacob E. Dawson is an avid blogger and foodie. You can call him Jake ;) He has studied marketing, entrepreneurship, music production and arts management and loves to read, write, learn and do :) His all-time favourite takeaway meal is...butter chicken

I ate 2/3 of a fresh Butch T at a local chilli festival last year (going again tomorrow). That last video is no joke. While I’d like to believe I held up better than that guy….seriously…one of the most insane experiences of my life. It started off hotter than any chilli I had ever eaten (I’ve eaten a few) and just got hotter and hotter. Probably a full 20 minutes till it started tapering off.

Allan S. Hugo

I wouldn’t dare eating any of these. I would die.

Adam Goodway

I’d give it a go have eaten the other four :) didn’t know this one existed

Jacob Dawson

You must be a brave man, Adam – I like spicy food but the guys in these videos don’t look like they’re having too much fun ;)